Expatriate Argentines, Germans to Get Fill of of World Cup Coverage
Horst Bolter, owner of the Kaiserhof German American Restaurant, says he’ll be opening his dinner restaurant 10:30 Sunday morning to accommodate the crowd of West German soccer fans who will watch the World Cup final on a couple of television sets he is setting up.
Carlos Cacho, a two-year player for the San Diego Sockers and a native of Buenos Aires, says he prefers to watch the game alone at home. He says it’s superstition.
The Argentines, the reigning champions of the World Cup, face the West Germans on Sunday in a rematch of the championship game four years ago in the world’s most hotly contested sporting event.
The game, televised from Rome, begins at 11 a.m. Some sports bars and pubs in the area say they won’t open until after noon but expect large crowds once they do.
Most West Germans and Argentines in San Diego say that, wherever they are, they will be glued to their television sets as they have been for the past month, cheering for their country’s team.
San Diego Socker’s Assistant Coach Erich Geyer, a native of Erlangen, West Germany, plans to be at Bolter’s place Sunday morning waving his flag and rooting for the West Germans, who are playing in the finals for the fourth time in the last five tournaments and the third time in a row.
“It’s not like a Super Bowl or World Series. The thing about the World Cup is that the whole country pulls together and, wherever you are, you root for your country,” Geyer said.
“Most Germans grow up with soccer, and most follow the World Cup,” he said, including the estimated 28,000 in San Diego County.
Bolter, who has owned and operated his German restaurant for 10 years, is putting together a smorgasbord of German favorites for his customers Sunday, including meatballs and sausages.
“For the Argentine people,” Cacho said, “soccer is everything.” Cacho, who has played with and against Argentine soccer superstar Diego Maridona and nearly every other member on the national team, says the country stops during World Cup-mania. His fellow Argentines in San Diego have planned parties and barbecues to celebrate the rematch.
Dr. Egisto Salerno, a physician in San Diego for seven years, has planned a bash for more than 70 fellow Argentines.
“There’s a whole bunch of people here ready to celebrate. We’ve been preparing this party, so they’d better win,” he said.
“But no matter what happens, they got this far and really put their hearts into it,” he said, referring to the reigning champion’s loss in the first round and the struggle to make it to the finals.
Natives of both countries say soccer is an obsession and lifestyle. “Fathers in Argentina always buy the first born baby a soccer jersey, shoes, shorts, socks, everything,” Cacho said.
And these natives say they carried their country’s World Cup fever to San Diego, although soccer is often considered a stepchild among American sports.
People in Argentina dance, shout and cry over the sport, said UC San Diego senior and Buenos Aires native Raul Susmel. And, whenever Susmel calls his family in Argentina, the conversation always rolls around to soccer.
“Nobody really expected Argentina to be in the finals,” Susmel said. “They’re really a lousy team, just lucky.”
But Salerno, a bit more optimistic, says he’s betting that the Argentines come out on top, 2-1.
“In my country, soccer goes straight to the heart. I know that’s hard to understand here,” he said.
Geyer says he’s sure that the Germans, who are favored to win, will go home with the first-place trophy. “There’s the revenge factor,” he said. “We’ve been looking forward to this since we lost four years ago.”
Many people, Geyer said, live from World Cup to World Cup, saving money and vacation time to devote to the event. And most players already talk of the 1994 World Cup, he said. So do the fans.
